Count The Miles
by drunk-on-living
Summary: Nicole and Emma Woods are used to being left behind. They've been alone for so long they've forgotten what it feels like to depend on someone aside from each other. But how far are they willing to put their hearts out on the line for a feeling they're not even sure is real?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! We're gonna try something a little different here. This story has two OCs, Nicole and Emma. It also has two different authors, one for each of the OCs! I don't think this has been done before and I hope you enjoy!**

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NICOLE'S POV:

"Emma!" I yelled, grabbing my car keys. "I have to pick up Emmett in five minutes! Let's go!" I heard her footsteps coming down the hallway.

"I'm ready… Jeez…" She said, coming into the kitchen.

"Okay just come on, Emmett is gonna kill me if he's late for that rodeo." I said, worrying about how my boyfriend was going to react.

We climbed into our beat up Chevrolet and drive down towards Emmett's house.

"You realize that one of these days he's really gonna hurt you. Hurt you real bad, and I'm gonna have to get by on my own. Why can't you just dump him already?" She asked as if she was confused.

I sigh, trying to think of the right words to say.

"Look, I know he treats me bad and all but I can't just let go of who he used to be. I can't help but think I can get him away from... Get him off the..." She cuts me off.

"Drugs? You think you can get a kid who has been an addict since he was 13 to stop using? He loved you at one point Coley, and I'm sorry for saying this but he's too far gone," she said.

I almost got mad at her but I knew she was right; there is no hope for him.

"I don't want to think about it right now. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. He could never hurt me that bad Em. It's gonna be pretty hard to get rid of me," I say glancing over at her and then back on the road.

She's only sixteen but she's wise beyond her years, she's a good kid. I really wish I could give her more.

"Alright. I know," she said.

Shortly after we pulled up to Emmett's house. He was waiting out front.

"Okay kid, get in the back," he said opening the door for Emma.

She didn't argue like they usually do. She knew that she'd lose.

"Hey," I said to him, once he was in the car. He grunted and the car was silent the rest of the way there.

"It's crowed tonight," Emma said from the back seat.

"No shit, it's Friday night," Emmett said, getting out of the car and walking a little bit ahead of us.

"Hey don't mind him Em, you know how he is," I whispered to her.

She was pissed, I could tell, but she let it go. Emmett was seated by now a few rows down from us.

"Nice seats babe," I said, noticing how close to the front we were. Emmett just grunted.

I hate how he acts now. I can't believe that the real Emmett was eaten by all the shit he puts into his body. He was seated on the end seat so Emma and me squeezed by him and sat between him and these three boys to the left of us.

"Well someone's in a bad mood tonight…As always…" Emma said.

Emmett and I both snapped our heads towards her. Why did she say that so loud?

"What the hell did you just say!?" Emmett yelled. The boys next to us were staring now, along with a few other people surrounding us.

Emma looked around for a minute and then stood up.

"You heard me!" She yelled back.

Within a second Emmett was out of his seat too. The two smaller boys next to us looked horrified while the bigger one eyed Emmett coolly.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you, you little shit!" He yelled moving toward her.

Without thinking I stood up and before I knew it I was on the ground.

He hit me. He really did it. I then heard a husky voice over Emma's panicked one just yelling. Then everything went black.

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**So that's the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed! Please review and tell us what you think! ~ Mikayla ~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** We do not own _The Outsiders_.

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EMMA'S POV:

The yelling was all around me, but I could hardly hear any of it. It was like being under water, and I kept straining my ears to understand what the deep voices around me were saying but the only thing I could concentrate on was my sister, lying there.

"Nicole!" I shouted, frantically, feeling like if I wasn't as loud as I could possibly be then she might not hear me. She looked at me for a second before closing her eyes heavily, tiredly. "Nicole!" I shouted again, even louder.

I stumbled to my knees impetuously, pulling her head onto my lap and looking for every sign I knew that may insure she was okay. Her chest was heaving up and down but it was slow and not quite as frequent as I thought it should be.

Then I really felt like I was underwater. I could barely breathe. The water was filling up my lungs and my throat. The air became harder and harder to find as more and more people started crowding around us and suddenly I was pushed aside as somebody scrambled past me but I was too focused on Nicole to care.

She looked like she was sleeping, like she didn't have a worry in the world, like she didn't have an abusive boyfriend, like she didn't live on the worst side of town, like she didn't have a sixteen-year-old sister to look after. She looked at peace, for once.

Suddenly the water around me was drained. I could hear everything around me though I could only grasp a few words at a time. Somebody had a firm grip on my upper arm. They were pulling me, trying to take my attention away but I shook them off. I wasn't ready to leave my sister. I bit my bottom lip, in an attempt to keep from crying out her name again, as the person clenching my arm started shaking me, desperate for my surveillance.

I refused to look, stubbornly, as the crowds around me raged. I wondered how all these people could be gathered around but nobody seemed to be seeing Nicole. Everyone's attention was elsewhere. Everyone except for the person still holding onto me. Finally I got fed up and whipped my head around to face the person only to find a pair of dark brown gentle eyes. I automatically felt ten times calmer just by the aura coming off of the boy whose hands were wrapped around my arm. My breathing became more controlled but I still refused to believe that Nicole was okay. I started to turn back to look at her, longing to see her coffee-colored eyes flutter open. But before I could even look at her, the boy had a hand on the side of my face, directing my gaze towards him.

"Hey," he said softly, and I wouldn't have been able to make out the words if he hadn't been right beside me, kneeling with one hand still on my arm and the other holding the side of my head.

I was confused and lost and everything going on around me was too much. The crowd was becoming thicker as each second passed, the distinct sound of fists coming into contact with skin could be heard as well as multiple grunts and vulgar cries, and here this guy was, calming me down with a simple glance.

_No_, I yelled inside my head. _No, this is not the time to be calm! Panic! Panic! Panic!_

Every muscle in my body tensed when he moved his hands away from me and reached towards my sister, swiftly pulling her up so she was leaning back against him.

"What are you doing?" I tried to say but my voice came out as more of a croak. I was surprised he could even understand me.

"Shh, c'mon, while nobody's paying much attention to us," he said, standing up, holding Nicole upright the entire time.

I suddenly felt anger boil up inside me. "Who do you think you are?" I questioned, my voice still coming out hoarse as I looked up at him, still kneeling on the ground. "Leave my sister alone." I felt the urge to tug at one of her arms like we were two kids fighting over a stuffed bear but I thought better of it.

He looked me dead in the eyes again. I wasn't distracted this time around but I sure did shut up. "C'mon," he said again, offering me a hand. I looked at his hand before standing up on my own, clumsily. For a second he smirked but it was gone as soon as it had appeared when he glanced over my shoulder. Under different circumstances I might've let curiosity win me out but I had no clue who this guy was and he was supporting my unconscious sister.

"Come on, I'm assuming you're with that scumbag. Lemme give you a ride home," he said, softly, already pacing away from me and the crowd surrounding where I'd been seated a minute ago, towards the exit.

Ever since I was a little kid people have told me not to take rides from strangers and Nicole would've killed me had she been awake but this guy was taller than I was and bigger too. He seemed nice enough but I knew better than to put my faith in a feeling. Then I thought about Emmett. I didn't know what was going on behind me but I was positive there had a t one point been three boys sitting next to me and now there were only two. The only solution that came to my mind was that one of the boys had pounced on Emmett. This guy was trying to help me. He was trying to help Nicole. He had to be. And even if he wasn't, I didn't see any better options but to follow him away from the throng of people.

"Where do you live again?"

I looked up from the back seat of the beat-up Chevy to the boy driving. He readjusted the rearview mirror to look back at me.

"North Rockford Avenue. Between Jasper and Independence," I answered, shying away from his glance in the mirror.

"I'm gonna need a number," he replied, tapping the steering wheel with two fingers.

"You can just drop us off at the corner. We'll manage."

He paused for a moment, and I could feel his eyes on my reflection in the mirror. "Hey, what'd you say your name was?"

I bit my bottom lip apprehensively. By the way his eyes kept flashing up to the rearview mirror I could tell he knew I was feeling uneasy, maybe even neurotic. I was starting to regret getting into this car but to be perfectly honest I felt safer than I had in years around Emmett.

"I didn't," I finally answered, after a shaky breath. I mentally cursed at myself for sounding so panicky. "It's Emma, though."

"And that's your sister?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Nicole."

I looked over to my sister. She was still passed out cold. I was hoping maybe she wouldn't wake up until I got us inside. I wouldn't have to tell her we hitched a ride off of two guys we don't know.

Two guys. Right, there were two of them. The one that had spoken to me at the races, the one that had convinced me to let him drive us home was behind the wheel, trying to get me to talk as much as possible. He looked like the kind of boy you stopped to watch walk down the street. He seemed like he could talk to anybody about anything. He could get anyone to open up like a book. He was just that kind of person.

The other boy was quite the opposite though. He was smaller than the driver which led me to believe he was a few years younger, so around my age. I hadn't gotten a good look at him by the tracks and the whole time we were in the car he just sat in the passenger's seat staring out his window silently so all I could see of him was his dark-colored hair and tanned skin. He was quiet. I started wishing his friend were more like him when he started talking to me again.

"Well, Emma, I'm Sodapop and that over there is Johnny," the driver filled me in. "That guy you were sitting with, you know him?"

I was about to question how honest he was being with me about his name until he brought up Emmett. My silent, gapping expression was all the answer he needed. In the mirror I could see his face transform from a look of concern to raging anger.

"He done that before? Hit your sister? He ever hit you?" he questioned in a fury.

I didn't say anything. I didn't even mention that he'd turned down the wrong street to get to my house.

"Man, that's wrong. It's just screwed up, beating on girls like that," Sodapop continued. I watched as the houses that weren't mine passed by us before he pulled up to the side of the street and parked the car. I wondered if he'd just gotten unsettled at the idea. I had nightmares all the time of my sister's black and blue body. But he'd missed our house by a block.

"Uh, Sodapop," I said quietly. He turned back to me, his face getting softer by the second.

"Yeah, Emma?"

"You missed our street. We live on Rockford. This is St. Louis," I informed him but it didn't look like breaking news to him.

A small smile began to form on his face as he opened his door, still looking at me. "You think I was just gonna leave you on the side of the road? C'mon, Emma. Let's get your sister some ice and while we're at it you can meet my brothers."

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**A/N: **So here's chapter two! Any feedback would be awesome! Let us know what you think! ~ Marion ~


	3. Chapter 3

**NICOLE'S POV:**

**-1 day later-**

Ouch. That's all I can think, what the fuck. This is the worst headache I've ever had in my life.

I opened my eyes slowly finding myself in an unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar man sitting across from me in a reclining chair. He noticed that I was awake and sat up in his seat a little bit.

"Who are you and where the hell am I? Where's my sister! Where's Emma? Is she alright..." I would have kept asking questions if he hadn't cut me off.

"Woah woah woah... One fucking question at a time for Christ's sake. You're sister's fine, she went to get something to eat with my buddies and we kinda saved your sister from being the next human punching bag." He finished.

"What happened to Emmett?" I asked nervously.

"Is that who that was? Emmett Daniels?" I nodded. He continued to speak, "Hmm.. Guess I was too busy trying to kill him to even realize who it was." He chuckled. My eyes widened.

"You .. You killed him!?" I panicked.

"Nah. Don't worry doll, he just got roughed up is all, he shouldn't have been putting his hands on you in the first place." He said. I nodded

"He was trying to hit Emma but I stood up to block the punch before he could. Anyways who are you? You look awfully familiar." I said to him.

"Dallas. Dallas Winston. You're Nicole Woods, right?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yeah... Ohh! I know where I've seen you! Emmett would always bring me to those parties at Buck Merrill's place, you were always there right?" I asked.

"Yeah that's me. I'm always either here or there." He answered.

"Where are we right now?" I asked.

"Jesus you ask a lot of questions. We're at the Curtis house. Do you know Darry, Sodapop or Ponyboy? This is their house." He said

"I think I might know Sodapop but I'm not sure." I told him.

"So .. Umm Nicki.. What made you and Emmett start going out together?" He asked.

I looked at him for a few moments. I've never looked at someone that hard before. I saw something in him right then and there. I saw pain and hurt in his cold blue eyes. I saw lines on the sides of his cheeks from his constant smirking, he did that a lot. That's all I would notice about him, his smirking, at those wild nights at Bucks place. Sometimes Emmett would notice me staring at him and dragged us out of there before we had a chance to sit down. But there was just something about Dally, I just can't put my finger on it. He's a mystery to me. It reminds me of my reflection. Everyone around me sees a tough girl who has no parents to limit her boundaries. But in reality...

"Hello? Anybody in there?" He said waving his hand in my face.

"Yeah sorry.. Umm.. I meet Emmett when I was about 10 he helped me through a lot, we started going out at 12.." I answered.

"What kinda stuff did he help you with? You weren't on drugs were you?" He asked.

"No no no.. That was him.. Not me.. I never dared touched that shit. I know better.." I sigh.

"Ohh well if you're not into the shit, why did you go out with him?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I.. I just wanted to save the person he was when I meet him. He chose that life I thought I could talk him out of it." I said looking away from him. "Look can we stop talking about this.. It's over.. I don't want to think about him anymore." I snapped.. Lie..

"Ok it get it." He admitted.

"Thanks.." I said.

"Hey are you hungry or something? Come on.." He said walking into the other room. I got off the couch and followed him into the other room.

"Can I have some water?" I asked. He then slid a cup to me. "Thanks." I said.

"I think there's some left over chicken in here if you wasn't some?" He said opening the fridge. He then took out the plate of chicken and a beer. Then placing the plate in front of me he said "Eat up." I nodded. He then cracked open his beer.

"Thanks. So do you live here with the Curtis'?" I asked him. He looked down at me taking a sip of the beer.

"Sometimes I crash on their couch but if I don't I stay at my room at Bucks place." He said.

"Oh so that's why you're always there, you always go around with that Sylvia girl right?" I asked him. His face kind of hardened.

"Not any more.. She's always cheating on me." He said coolly lighting a cigarette. "She ain't ever been worth the time of day.. End of discussion." He finished walking outside to finish smoking his cancer stick. I sat down at the table and ate some chicken.

"Dal! Where are you man?" I heard a boy's voice. He was soon standing in the doorway staring at me and Emma followed in behind him.

"Oh my God Coley! I was so worried!" She said hugging me.

"I told you, it'll take a lot to get rid of me. One little punch isn't gonna put me out for good." I said to her. "Oh and by the way Dallas went out for a cigarette and hasn't come back. He didn't say where he was going." I said to the boy who was calling for him.

"I figured he would screw as soon as you woke up. I'm Sodapop by the way." He said shaking my hand.

"Yeah Dal told me a little bit about you and you're brothers." I told him.

"Come on. Emma let's introduce Nicole here to the guys." He said to Emma. She soon pulled me out of the kitchen and back into the living room Dallas was back.. He must have went for a walk or something. They sat me down to introduce me to my new "family".

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**Hope you guys like this there's much more to come! **

** ~Mikayla~ **


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